LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Former University of Kansas Chancellor Gene Budig and his wife, Gretchen Budig, will receive the Dole Humanitarian Award.

The award from the university’s Department of Special Education will honor the Budigs for their work to improve the lives with people with disabilities and their families.

The university announced Thursday that the Budigs will be honored during a private ceremony next Friday at the Dole Institute of Politics.

Gene Budig was chancellor at the university from 1981 to 1994, when he resigned to become president of baseball’s American League.

The university said in a news release that Budig supported the special education department and other disability-related campus programs while he was chancellor. The Budigs also endowed the Budig Teaching Professorship in Special Education.